Confronting The Misinformation Society: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done About It

Friday, January 26, 2018

4:00 PM-6:00 PM

Victor Pickard, PhD, University of Pennsylvania

The many challenges facing American journalism have taken on greater urgency during the Trump Era. Rising concerns about misinformation and the unaccountable power of platform monopolies such as Facebook have drawn attention to fundamental flaws in our core communication infrastructures. To understand what ails journalism and what reforms are necessary to address these problems, we must first scrutinize the discourses and policies that mask structural pathologies in our news and information systems. Toward this aim, this talk will bring into focus the ongoing collapse of commercial journalism in the United States and will conclude by exploring potential alternatives.